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Is using streaming services worthy of an audiophile?

I read that a lot of people on this forum use Tidal etc. Is this ok from audiophile perspective? I mean, do people who use such services actually know what quality is streamed? Don’t you lose all control over your music when you surrender to streaming services?
defiantboomerang
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 

As Shadorne has said, some DACs display the incoming signal. The bottom line is what type of sound quality you can get from your rig. I can get sensational sound quality from steaming Tidal's upper quality service through ROON.

But, to get the most out of it you need to work with ROON's digital engine settings.

I have heard some MQA demos and I'm not terribly impressed. Pretty overblown imo.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,614 posts
 
+1, shadorne. 


jond's avatar
jond
5,911 posts
 
My streamer, Auralic Aries Mini, displays the sampling rate of anything playing on the Lightning DS app so i always know. And direct comparisons to my own ripped files and Tidal have mostly been about even, where I start to see differences is when one version is a better master. i.e. I may have ripped a K2 version of a cd and Tidal doesn't have the K2 my version may sound better. Other than that it's a wash.
jond's avatar
jond
5,911 posts
 
Also not sure what "lose control of all your music" means? All of "my" music is at my fingertips on a NAS drive and I can play anything I want from Tidal as well.  I would call that much better "control" of my music and much more convenience.
james1969's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
james1969
347 posts
 
Tidal is fantastic.  Tidal is also a good tool to find new vinyl, listen before you buy.
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